The present invention relates to a device for distributing paper segments, in particular segments coming from a continuous roll.
In the field of sheet dispensers applied for instance inside public facilities, such as workshops, petrol stations or car washes, devices are known for distributing sheets of paper or similar materials coming from a continuous roll which is unwound within a containment structure towards a release area, in correspondence with which the user can tear from the continuous roll a segment of the desired size.
Some of these devices lack means able to facilitate the detachment of the paper segments so they present the drawback that, during the tearing phase, the force exerted by the user is not always sufficient completely to detach the sheet from the remainder of the roll. In these devices, therefore, separating a sheet of the desired dimensions and with sufficiently regular edges from the continuous roll is difficult.
Also known are devices that present cutting elements in correspondence with the release area, to favor the tearing effected by the user and to obtain a sheet with more regular edges. These devices, however, do not allow to obtain individual segments of equal dimensions, the dimensions being evaluated by the user who performs the tearing action.
Also known are devices that use paper rolls presenting transverse weakening or incised lines, in order to facilitate the tearing while providing paper segments of regular shape and size.
In these devices, however, a continuous succession of segments, which the user interrupts at his/her own discretion.
To facilitate the tearing, the user must in this case separate the segment in correspondence with the weakening or incised line, which operation can be found difficult because it is necessary to exert a traction on a segment of the roll whilst holding the contiguous segment still, which segment as a result of the exerted traction would tend to unwind towards the release area.
Moreover, to avoid paper wastage, the user has to perform the aforesaid operation in proximity to the release area, in order not to leave a quantity of paper unused outside the dispensing device.
Dispensing devices are known which regulate the exit of the paper segments in relation to the rotation effected by the paper roll during its unwinding; for instance, the unwinding of the paper is interrupted at each rotation of the roll.
Since roll diameter changes during use, it is evident that when the roll is new the quantity of paper unwound is much greater than when the roll approaches exhaustion.
In this situation, the weakening or incised lines do not always align in correspondence with the release area, thus making it difficult to tear off individual segments.
As disclosed in Patent BO95A000258, also known are devices for dispensing paper segments soaked with a cleaning product, which is dispensed on a portion of roll inside the containment structure before an end of the roll itself exits the release area.
Such devices present the drawback that the dispensing of the product is not always effected on the individual paper segment to be selected by the user as it exits, since the unwinding of the roll depends either on the user""s intervention or on the adjustment based on the rotation of the roll itself.
In this situation, the cleaning product is dispensed on a surface that does not correspond exactly with the individual segment, so that the user may have available a paper sheet that is only partially soaked with the product.
The aim of the present invention therefore is to eliminate the aforementioned drawbacks by means of a device for dispensing paper segments which provides, in correspondence with the release area, a segment that can be easily separated from the previous one.
A further aim of the present invention is to prevent subsequent segments from being unwound from the coil as a result of the traction exerted on a first segment to be used.
Another aim of the present invention is to lock the unwinding of the roll when the weakening or incised line is in correspondence with the release area.
The present invention also allows to position the single segment in correspondence with a possible apparatus for dispensing cleaning product located inside the containment structure.
These aims and others besides, which will become more readily apparent in the description that follows, are achieved in accordance with the present invention by a device for dispensing paper segments, comprising a containment structure; at least a continuous roll of paper presenting a plurality of perforations distributed along the direction of unwinding of the roll, said roll developing inside said containment structure until reaching an exterior release area presented by the containment structure itself; and means for unwinding said roll towards the release area, comprising at least a detector, positioned downstream of the roll inside the containment structure, to identify at least a perforation in the paper roll during the unwinding thereof and locking means connected to said detector to lock the unwinding of the roll when said perforation is identified.